merry christmas, friends!
i am in odense denmark staying with my aunt, uncle, and three cousins [ages 26, 15, 14]. all i do here is sleep, eat, play cards, and laugh. we are all clowns. my uncle almost recieved a full outfit for christmas. a horn comb [from me], a jumper, a shirt, and a pair of socks. he is missing pants and shoes. he threatened to change into his new outfit. my cousin, jan, got two blenders, one from his parents and the other from a friend. they are both exactly the same. he loves to make smoothies. we went to see australia tonight. has anyone seen it? what is the reaction at home? what do indigenious australians think about it? i pretty much cried the whole way through and really loved it. i cannot tell if it is my homesickness talking or not. i was not expecting to like it, you know, it being cheesier than a four cheese pizza, but i totally got into it, melodrama and historical inaccuracies and all. what do you think? can we still be friends?
i am visiting copenhagen on saturday with the family. yeah! i have never been there before. oh uber danish design and fashion shops, here i come! today is my payday and you know what that spells, trouble! i cannot wait to go to the henrik vibskov store or this one called woodwood. die!
i went to st john bread and wine with stefan on monday night. it looks like a modern canteen [white with high ceilings, open kitchen, wooden tables and chairs] filled with bears and check shirt wearing designers [but do not let that stop you]. the food is very simple and hearty and british. delicious! if you come visit me, i will take you there. we were having a date-off with the couple at the next table. well, not really, but we were definitely seated in dating diners lane.
umm what else? oh 50 cent was filming something on the end of my street last weekend. one of the little boys i live with kept running out the door, pointing and yelling "gangsters! gangsters!". there was nothing gangster about it, but it was very amusing! i am still in love with my work and i hope they sponsor me when the time comes. fingers crossed! thanks to millie, my new favourite dessert to make is banoffee pie. so easy! look it up! it has been a hit both times i made it. i apologise for the lack of photos accompanying these emails. i think i am still broken after the polaroid project i did in 2005. i was thinking about it the other day. i loved the idea of instantly capturing a moment in time only to have it fade eventually. right now i have the same experience but a lot cheaper, it is called memory. haha! hehe!
lots of love
o
26 December 2008
15 December 2008
sniffle sniffle from london [part twenty-three]
hello!
i am typing to you from bed, the most luxe experience available to me right now. i am sick, the covers are drawn up over my lap, and the macbook is acting as a hot water bottle. do you think resting a macbook on one's lap can make one infertile? sometimes i do wonder about that. it is very annoying being sick right now because this is everyone's last week at work before we break for christmas and there is a lot to do and i do not want to take a day off. sigh.
so instead of typing about my rollercoaster romances, i will entertain you with my observations of english people.
01/ english people say the weirdest things. they are always asking "you alright?" or "you 'right?" and i say "yes!". that one confused me for weeks. why are they asking me if i am alright? what they are really asking is "how are you?". when i had my first london flu ever i called richard nicoll's studio to say i could not come in because i was sick and heather [the design room manager] said "oh that is rubbish" and i was mute for words. what to say? i really was sick, no lies! but what she meant was "it is terrible news you are sick". strange, huh? we are speaking the same language but are oceans apart in understanding.
02/ it is winter here and very cold. one has to be prepared to face icy winds and meat freezer conditions when one steps outside. on the bus home i catch a whiff of coconut butter on a passenger and i am half crying because she is such a tease and half laughing at her optimism. londoners are funny like that. rain does not keep them at home. a little bit of sun and their shirts come off. you know the weirdos sunbathing in hyde park? they are english.
03/ i heard the best line on the tube the other day. i was waiting on the platform next to a man for the train. he elbows a woman out of the way to get onto the packed compartment. once on, he pushes past a businessman who takes immediate offense. "hey no need to push!" says the businessman. "hey no need to stand there like a pillar!" retorts the other. i love it! who says "pillar" anymore!? so old school!
04/ oh the other thing the english say that is weird is "rammed". the train was rammed this morning. topshop was rammed when kate moss' collection came out. rammed, as in packed. i always thought "rammed" was a gay term, but not here. i have to suppress a giggle whenever someone uses it. the other thing they say is "shattered". i am so shattered! shattered, as in tired.
05/ my biggest grievance about london so far has been the supermarkets. you know how australian supermarkets devote half an aisle to canned tuna? i am lucky to find even a few cans of it here. fish is the only meat i eat! do people think it is a delicacy? why is there hardly any of it available? sigh. the other thing they do not have is a deli section. without fresh full cream ricotta, how am i supposed to make roast vegetable pizza or spinach and ricotta cannelloni? double sigh. i can buy it at the markets but it is expensive. oh one more weird thing, a lot of the fruit and vegetables come prepackaged. they purposefully make it harder to buy fresh produce loose. what is up with that?
06/ but to counter the frustrating supermarkets, london is great for jumble sales. i went to two on sunday. why do i love sorting through people's junk? i do not know, i just do. my best find yesterday was a pair of floral fabric covered heels for £8. bargain!
next monday i am going to dinner at st john bread and wine. i am so excited! it sounds so grown-up. i am taking the boy on a counter-date to afternoon tea at the wolseley after christmas. he leaves for hamburg the week after. sigh. i am making a poor attempt at not thinking about it too much. he is not even the boy, more like the main squeeze. he came into work today to show mark how to blog and to give me a refresher on running the online store. when he left, he kissed me goodbye in front of everyone. blush!
love
o
i am typing to you from bed, the most luxe experience available to me right now. i am sick, the covers are drawn up over my lap, and the macbook is acting as a hot water bottle. do you think resting a macbook on one's lap can make one infertile? sometimes i do wonder about that. it is very annoying being sick right now because this is everyone's last week at work before we break for christmas and there is a lot to do and i do not want to take a day off. sigh.
so instead of typing about my rollercoaster romances, i will entertain you with my observations of english people.
01/ english people say the weirdest things. they are always asking "you alright?" or "you 'right?" and i say "yes!". that one confused me for weeks. why are they asking me if i am alright? what they are really asking is "how are you?". when i had my first london flu ever i called richard nicoll's studio to say i could not come in because i was sick and heather [the design room manager] said "oh that is rubbish" and i was mute for words. what to say? i really was sick, no lies! but what she meant was "it is terrible news you are sick". strange, huh? we are speaking the same language but are oceans apart in understanding.
02/ it is winter here and very cold. one has to be prepared to face icy winds and meat freezer conditions when one steps outside. on the bus home i catch a whiff of coconut butter on a passenger and i am half crying because she is such a tease and half laughing at her optimism. londoners are funny like that. rain does not keep them at home. a little bit of sun and their shirts come off. you know the weirdos sunbathing in hyde park? they are english.
03/ i heard the best line on the tube the other day. i was waiting on the platform next to a man for the train. he elbows a woman out of the way to get onto the packed compartment. once on, he pushes past a businessman who takes immediate offense. "hey no need to push!" says the businessman. "hey no need to stand there like a pillar!" retorts the other. i love it! who says "pillar" anymore!? so old school!
04/ oh the other thing the english say that is weird is "rammed". the train was rammed this morning. topshop was rammed when kate moss' collection came out. rammed, as in packed. i always thought "rammed" was a gay term, but not here. i have to suppress a giggle whenever someone uses it. the other thing they say is "shattered". i am so shattered! shattered, as in tired.
05/ my biggest grievance about london so far has been the supermarkets. you know how australian supermarkets devote half an aisle to canned tuna? i am lucky to find even a few cans of it here. fish is the only meat i eat! do people think it is a delicacy? why is there hardly any of it available? sigh. the other thing they do not have is a deli section. without fresh full cream ricotta, how am i supposed to make roast vegetable pizza or spinach and ricotta cannelloni? double sigh. i can buy it at the markets but it is expensive. oh one more weird thing, a lot of the fruit and vegetables come prepackaged. they purposefully make it harder to buy fresh produce loose. what is up with that?
06/ but to counter the frustrating supermarkets, london is great for jumble sales. i went to two on sunday. why do i love sorting through people's junk? i do not know, i just do. my best find yesterday was a pair of floral fabric covered heels for £8. bargain!
next monday i am going to dinner at st john bread and wine. i am so excited! it sounds so grown-up. i am taking the boy on a counter-date to afternoon tea at the wolseley after christmas. he leaves for hamburg the week after. sigh. i am making a poor attempt at not thinking about it too much. he is not even the boy, more like the main squeeze. he came into work today to show mark how to blog and to give me a refresher on running the online store. when he left, he kissed me goodbye in front of everyone. blush!
love
o
7 December 2008
hello from london [part twenty-two]
hello kids
how are you? i am having the best time in london right now, she is treating me very well, no longer the tough mistress she once was. i wonder what will happen to balance out these good times. the other night i recognised i am replicating my sydney life here. i have a great job, i love my bosses, i like where i live, i have [some] disposable income, my good friends all live within walking distance, there are adventures galore to be had. we look for comfort in the familiar? even my room feels the same as it does in sydney, only much smaller.
i had an awesome week, i know you want to hear all about it.
there are little pockets of vietnamese restaurants and grocers in east london. i get kicks going to the grocers just to buy packets of instant noodles. they always have a vietnamese soap opera blaring from the tv. i am a food snob when it comes to vietnamese. i went to dinner with the boy on tuesday night and he took me to a place called song que on kingsland road. oh lord, i knew i was in for a treat as soon as we got there. first, the decor is very much as a vietnamese eatery should be. potted plants by the door [i could not tell if these were plastic or not], mostly pastel green interior, a certain percentage of the lighting is neon, paper tablecloths, waiters in white tee shirts. you get the picture. i think i came close to embarrassing him with my glee. the traditional vietnamese food [yellow pancake, vermicelli with spring rolls, rice paper rolls] was fresh and cheap. my mother is the biggest vietnamese food snob on your side of the hemisphere. i will not be afraid to take her here if she comes to visit. the place is so good, i ate there twice. actually i was very naughty this week and ate out thrice [the other place was the japanese canteen]! oh i am so living beyond my means!
at work we are in serious production mode, allocating fabrics and trims to manufacturers. aki said i had two days to get two packages ready to send, ok fine. but if i do not get them ready to send by monday morning, we will both have to come in on saturday. oh ok. well i got them ready in record time. she is one tough production manager. she has already told me off twice. i kind of dig how challenging aki is. at lunchtime she is hilarious telling us stories about her kid and husband, but outside of that, work is work. in my first week we bonded over summer heights high. gold!
our work christmas party is tomorrow night. monday night! how does anyone expect us to function the next day? we are going to sketch. some people say it is fancy, others wanky. hopefully i will not make the same mistake i made at the peopke christmas dinner at est where i drank on an empty stomach, embarrassed myself, and had to go home early. fingers crossed!
i had a great treasure finding day yesterday. i having been looking for fresh full cream ricotta for weeks. you know how you can buy it at the supermarket at the deli? you cannot do that here. i finally found it at broadway market. it cost a pretty penny but oh roast vegetable pizza and spinach and ricotta cannelloni, here i come!
the other thing i bought at the markets is a domino set. it is made of lightweight plastic. i got to the markets fairly late in the day, i cannot believe it had been sitting there all day with a £2 price tag and no one was interested. there was a jumble sale at the art gallery on my street. i got there as it was closing and everything was 50p. i bought a grey marle jumper and circular adidas bag and picked up some old vogue magazines for free. such a good day, no?
you know how i sometimes like to wear a stick-on mustache and brows? i am not sure what people think about it when i tell them. hopefully they understand it is a type of creative release. my friend found these and thought of me. lots of boys here sport a 'tache, it is very east london to do so.
love
olivia
how are you? i am having the best time in london right now, she is treating me very well, no longer the tough mistress she once was. i wonder what will happen to balance out these good times. the other night i recognised i am replicating my sydney life here. i have a great job, i love my bosses, i like where i live, i have [some] disposable income, my good friends all live within walking distance, there are adventures galore to be had. we look for comfort in the familiar? even my room feels the same as it does in sydney, only much smaller.
i had an awesome week, i know you want to hear all about it.
there are little pockets of vietnamese restaurants and grocers in east london. i get kicks going to the grocers just to buy packets of instant noodles. they always have a vietnamese soap opera blaring from the tv. i am a food snob when it comes to vietnamese. i went to dinner with the boy on tuesday night and he took me to a place called song que on kingsland road. oh lord, i knew i was in for a treat as soon as we got there. first, the decor is very much as a vietnamese eatery should be. potted plants by the door [i could not tell if these were plastic or not], mostly pastel green interior, a certain percentage of the lighting is neon, paper tablecloths, waiters in white tee shirts. you get the picture. i think i came close to embarrassing him with my glee. the traditional vietnamese food [yellow pancake, vermicelli with spring rolls, rice paper rolls] was fresh and cheap. my mother is the biggest vietnamese food snob on your side of the hemisphere. i will not be afraid to take her here if she comes to visit. the place is so good, i ate there twice. actually i was very naughty this week and ate out thrice [the other place was the japanese canteen]! oh i am so living beyond my means!
at work we are in serious production mode, allocating fabrics and trims to manufacturers. aki said i had two days to get two packages ready to send, ok fine. but if i do not get them ready to send by monday morning, we will both have to come in on saturday. oh ok. well i got them ready in record time. she is one tough production manager. she has already told me off twice. i kind of dig how challenging aki is. at lunchtime she is hilarious telling us stories about her kid and husband, but outside of that, work is work. in my first week we bonded over summer heights high. gold!
our work christmas party is tomorrow night. monday night! how does anyone expect us to function the next day? we are going to sketch. some people say it is fancy, others wanky. hopefully i will not make the same mistake i made at the peopke christmas dinner at est where i drank on an empty stomach, embarrassed myself, and had to go home early. fingers crossed!
i had a great treasure finding day yesterday. i having been looking for fresh full cream ricotta for weeks. you know how you can buy it at the supermarket at the deli? you cannot do that here. i finally found it at broadway market. it cost a pretty penny but oh roast vegetable pizza and spinach and ricotta cannelloni, here i come!
the other thing i bought at the markets is a domino set. it is made of lightweight plastic. i got to the markets fairly late in the day, i cannot believe it had been sitting there all day with a £2 price tag and no one was interested. there was a jumble sale at the art gallery on my street. i got there as it was closing and everything was 50p. i bought a grey marle jumper and circular adidas bag and picked up some old vogue magazines for free. such a good day, no?
you know how i sometimes like to wear a stick-on mustache and brows? i am not sure what people think about it when i tell them. hopefully they understand it is a type of creative release. my friend found these and thought of me. lots of boys here sport a 'tache, it is very east london to do so.
in a moment of heightened pretension and silliness, i stuck on my fake facial hair and took some pictures. i do not know who i am trying to be but it is definitely some sort of man woman.
love
olivia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
